In the six years from 1845 to 1851 the Irish Famine caused approximately one million deaths out of a population of eight and a half million inhabitants. It was during this period that two million Irish emigrated and another three million emigrated over the next 50 years. Historians, including Ó Gráda, illustrate the longevity and significance of the famine on Irish society, showing how the event shaped Ireland both economically and politically. Although the Irish famine was not the most devastating of famines, compared to those that occurred in China in 1957-62, Bengal in 1943 and Ukraine in the 1930s, which eclipsed it in terms of mortality. Nonetheless, the Irish famine is unique in that the proportion of the population who died or were forced to escape its consequences reached 35% of the total population in 1850. To this day, the Irish population has never been completely affected. it recovered, remaining at half pre-famine levels, thus demonstrating that Ireland is still socially scarred even in 2013. As a result, the famine is an event still discussed and debated today; influencing Irish politics and its position within the British Isles. Questions about morality and guilt have led historians to attempt to critique the British and Irish response during the Famine, while cataloging the short- and long-term consequences. While much of the blame is placed primarily on the response of regional and national governments to the famine crisis, the state's actions do not provide an adequate analysis of the early 19th century social structures that would shape Ireland both economically, socially and politically in the years preceding the famine crisis. famine. The founding of the Union in 1801 led to a free-market system and s...... middle of paper ......sitive to human suffering, which would eventually lead to famine. Ultimately, the question of blame is not as important as the question of cause. Karl Marx wrote in his thesis that “Ireland was swept away by economic forces from the most powerful and aggressive state the world had ever known. It suffered not from a fungus but from conquest, theft, slavery, protectionism, state welfare, public works and inflation. “Throughout Irish history, its people have suffered famine under English rule. Like a boxer with both arms tied behind his back, the Irish could only stand and absorb blow after blow and while it took many circumstances of British and Irish politics to create the knockout punch in 1845, they are also clear social and land divisions. and economic structures inevitably led to the devastation of the Great Famine.